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Creating girls division the right move to keep all wrestlers happy
THE FORT WORTH
STAR-TELEGRAM
November 2, 1997, Sunday
When the University Interscholastic League takes over
high school
wrestling in 1998, girls will have a separate division.
For this
season, the Texas Interscholastic Wrestling Association
will honor
that ruling.
For both sides, this decision is the best possible
compromise.
Females should not be allowed to wrestle male
competitors.
Differences in muscle and size could lead to serious
injuries.
Inappropriate touching could also occur.
If these safety and moral concerns did arise, the TIWA,
which has
no personal liability protection, would be vulnerable to
legal
action.
The TIWA and Texas Wrestling Officials Association cited
these
issues in December and declined to allow girls to
compete against
either gender.
"Wrestling is a rough, rugged sport," said John Rizzuti,
president
of the former TWOA. "Girls can easily get their neck
broken or their
elbow smashed. "
TIWA executive director Jim Giunta argued that since the
TIWA is a
private organization and receives no state funding,
schools that sign
up to compete must adhere to the organization's rules.
But the girls had a point. Whether females competed
with males or
not, they still deserved an opportunity to wrestle.
The idea of girls wrestling began at the state wrestling
meet in
February of 1996. Amy Bennett of Arlington High and
Melony Monahan of
Sam Houston competed in an exhibition at the state meet.
Last year, interest in girls wrestling climbed with 15
girls
deciding to participate.
When the TIWA imposed its ban, the female wrestlers
challenged it.
The parents of Monahan and Martin's Courtney Barnett and
the American
Civil Liberties Union filed an injunction that would
have restrained
wrestling from occurring.
The lawsuit was overturned. The girls, though, took a
bold
alternative, forming their own league.
Tom Harrison founded the Texas Interscholastic Girls
Wrestling
Association. And the girls competed in the newly formed
division at
the TIWA's Arlington Independent School District Meet
and crowned two
winners, Barnett in the 119-125 pound division and
Monahan in the
125-130 pound division.
The February state tournament proved female interest in
wrestling
was not limited to the Fort Worthallas. Seven teams and
18 girls from
around the state competed in the TIGWA.
This year, all of the Arlington schools will field a
girls team.
Like every team sport, girls will not compete against
boys. But
nothing could keep the girls from competing.
----------------------------------
Monahan to be hailed as pioneer
THE FORT WORTH
STAR-TELEGRAM
July 6, 1997, Sunday
They played before the government put teeth into
Title IX, before
gender equity became a household phrase. Before most
people even
noticed women's college sports.
What Lucy Harris, Carol Blazejowski, Nancy Lieberman,
Ann Meyers
and Lynette Woodard did on the basketball court in the
1970s and '80s
- along with countless others who played with them -
made the United
States realize that women could play, too.
Many years later, a 17-year-old girl in Arlington has
assumed
their mantle. Melony Monahan may be just a high school
senior, but
when it comes to getting what she wants, the 130-pound
state girls
wrestling champion is tenacious. And what she wants can
be boiled
down to three simple words: Let me compete.
"Do you remember how, after he won the Masters, Tiger
Woods kept
talking about Charlie Sifford and Lee Elder, the black
golfers who
came before him and gave him the chance to play? "
University of
Oklahoma wrestling benefactor Logan Wright asked.
"Well, 20 years
from now, the Tiger Woods of women's wrestling will
refer to Melony
as the one who helped get this all started. "
As women in high school and college athletics enjoy
opportunities
never dreamed of when Title IX became law in 1972,
Monahan is proof
that there is still a long way to go.
"In some places, there has been a lot of progress,"
Monahan said.
"But it's still not enough. I've talked to girls
everywhere who tell
me they want to wrestle but there's no place to do it. "
This year, there will be a place at Sam Houston High
because
Monahan, who also plays softball for the Texans and was
named drum
major of the school's marching band, has taken it upon
herself to
organize a girls wrestling team.
"I recruited a bunch of girls," she said. "And
Arlington might
have a team, too. I don't think it'll be like last
year, when I'd
wrestle the same girls over and over. This year there
should be a
little more variety, and we'll see if we can travel to
more
tournaments. "
Just getting on the mat was a struggle last season.
Monahan
battled the Texas Interscholastic Wrestling Association
all year in
an attempt to join Sam Houston's male wrestlers,
becoming the only
girl to wrestle a boy in a sanctioned match in Texas.
U.S. District
Court Judge A. Joe Fish stopped that, ruling the TIWA
could bar her
from competing. But the pressure was enough to create a
girls state
tournament, in which Monahan won the 130-pound division.
"I don't like to be told I can't do something," she
said.
But that's not the end of her legacy. Indeed, Monahan
has bigger
dreams. She has not been recruited by colleges to
wrestle because
women's wrestling is not an NCAA-sanctioned sport. So
Monahan figures
she'll try to change that, too.
With the help of Wright, a retired Oklahoma psychology
professor
who heads a foundation that funds OU's freestyle
wrestling program,
Monahan may very well get her chance. Wright said he
will either help
Monahan join the currently all-male freestyle team,
which is not
required to operate under NCAA rules, or he will help
her start
women's wrestling as a collegiate club sport with the
intention of
eventually convincing the NCAA to add it as a varsity
sport.
"I think that's going to happen," Wright said. "There
is already
preliminary work being done to add women's wrestling to
the 2004
Olympics. America has a women's world champion in Trish
Saunders. One
of these days, the NCAA is going to get the message. "
And when it does, Melony Monahan will be a big part of
the reason.
PHOTO(S): Jill Johnson
--------------------------------
GIRL SHOULDN'T WRESTLE BOYS
The Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT)
January 26, 1997, Sunday
For a girl, wrestling boys, as at Hunter High School,
is next to unthinkable. I admire those young men wrestlers who were
gentlemen
enough to forfeit the matches instead of wrestling her.
Surely Michelle Chaston can use her talents in a better way. To have a girl
wrestling
boys - this time women's lib has gone too far.
Ila M. Nelson
Salt Lake City
--------------------------------
Should girls be allowed to participate in high
school wrestling?
THE FORT WORTH
STAR-TELEGRAM
January 19, 1997,
YES!!
Whenever I wrestle, I werestle to win
I would rather wrestle girls, but the participation
number is so
few, I wouldn't get to wrestle enough. So the only way
I'd get
wrestling time is wrestling boys.
At our first dual meet this season, I became the first
girl to
participate in a sanctioned varsity boys wrestling match
in Texas.
The Lewisville coach allowed his 125-pounder to wrestle
me when he
realized he would have had to forfeit if he didn't.
But,
unfortunately, that was the first and last sanctioned
match.
Since then, I have been denied the right to wrestle many
times. I
wasn't even allowed to stand as a team captain to hear
the referees'
briefing before a recent match.
Once, four referees walked out on a six-team tournament
because I
weighed in and wanted to wrestle. Talk about feeling
bad. How would
you feel if athletes from six high school teams, who had
gotten up at
4 a.m. and some even had to work out that morning before
weigh-ins,
couldn't participate because of you? I definitely was
affected by
that.
So far this season, I've been competitive with everyone
I've
wrestled - and I even enjoyed the challenge of wrestling
against boys
who defeated me. And that's why I get so angry when
someone says that
I'm fighting for publicity or some other reason.
You know what? I don't care who I wrestle. I do want
the same
opportunity the guys have to wrestle, win or lose.
After a while,
when you wrestle against other girls all the time, you
start feeling
like a freak show.
I also hate it when those who are against girls
wrestling bring up
the sex issue. None of the boys and girls I know who
wrestle are
thinking about sex when they are wrestling. They are
thinking about
winning.
Coaches, let girls know it's cool to join your wrestling
programs.
I assure you, they won't bite. They are interested.
-Melony Monahan, Sam Houston High School
NO
Liability is an issue that can't be ignored when the
sexes clash
We have a variety of other concerns in the area of
liability to
the officials for things that may happen if there is
inter-gender
wrestling. Such as the potential of lawsuits regarding
inappropriate
or inadvertent touching of a girl wrestler - either by
an opponent or
by an official should he have to touch the wrestler for
any reason.
Though remote, it's a possibility.
We're also concerned about injury. Though the other
side might
scoff at that, the officials are responsible for what
happens on the
mat. The disparity between boys' and girls' physical
ability is too
much for us to handle. I've said it before - girls
could easily have
their neck broken or elbow smashed.
We're not going to do boy-girl matches under any
circumstances. No
one is going to force us to do something that will put
us in harm's
way. That's not going to change until we have a
protective buffer
between us and anyone who might take us to court for any
reason.
What people have to understand is that No. 1, this is a
volunteer
job. We're performing a community service. And No. 2,
we're caught in
the middle of a dispute between the plaintiffs and the
TIWA. Our
position is one of enforcement, not of rule making.
After this is settled, we will be taking action against
the
plaintiffs for labeling us "sexist" and "discriminatory"
in the
media, which we consider highly offensive. It's unfair,
innacurate
and offensive name-calling and we're not going to put up
with it.
Those who made those statements are going to pay for it.
-John Rizzuti is a past president of the north-central
chapter of
the Texas Wrestling Officials Association.
The Texas Wrestling Officials Association is a volunteer
organization that won't officiate male-vs.-female
matches for
liability reasons. Rizzuti remains an outspoken
spokesman for TWOA.
ONLY AGAINST GIRLS
More females would get involved if they only wrestled
females
There are always two sides to every story. In the case
of females
being allowed to wrestle, the controversy is over should
it be female
vs. male or female vs. female.
I have to say I am strongly in support of female vs.
female
matches. If the matches are to be female vs. female,
the number of
female wrestlers would grow at a more rapid rate.
We all came into this season with the understanding of
female vs.
female wrestling only. Coming into the season knowing
it would be
female vs. female, Arlington High School went from one
female
wrestler to five.
The Arlington Independent School District went from
three females
to seven. I did lose a teammate when it was said that
the females
would wrestle the males. I know that there are many
females who would
like the opportunity to wrestle, but their parents will
not allow
their daughters to wrestle the males.
Society can handle female vs. female as opposed to
female vs.
male. The reason I have for females not wrestling males
is because it
hurts the team. If a female is to wrestle a male, it
costs her team
points or the dual tournament becomes a scrimmage.
That is the better of the results. The referees have
also walked
out when a female was to wrestle a male. I have always
said that I
want to wrestle females, but if I were forced into the
situation, I
would wrestle a male. Since the Texas Interscholastic
Girls Wrestling
Association has developed, I will never have to be
forced into the
situation.
-Darcy Roman, Arlington wrestler
----------------------------------------------------------------------
WRESTLING A GIRL ISN'T RIGHT
The Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT)
January 16, 1997, Thursday
Regarding the article in Thursday's sports section,
''Wrestling with the gender issue,'' I have always believed that women are
capable
and able to accomplish whatever they choose. But if my
son were paired in a wrestling match with a young woman, I would encourage
him to forfeit.
This is not due to a lack of appreciation for her
abilities but as a show of respect for womanhood.
We want our children to respect the opposite sex. How
can we then, in the name of ''sport,'' allow a young man to grab, twist,
shove and
try to dominate any woman? If we finally succeed in
stripping away all of the barriers traditionally held to protect women,
society will have
lost something precious.
Paula Brown
West Jordan
----------------------------------------------------------------------
HARD WORK HAS EARNED FEMALE WRESTLER A SPOT ON
THE TEAM.
The Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT)
January 9, 1997, Thursday
Michelle Chaston's name alone gives away the fact
that she's no ordinary high school wrestler.
But being a girl in a traditionally male-dominated sport
isn't the only difference she has with all the boys in wrestling.
How many wrestlers do you know that can say they have
been in a beauty pageant, help babysit at home, carry a 3.7 cumulative GPA
and
play violin for the school orchestra?
Well, that all but narrows it down to Chaston, a junior
at Hunter High School who perfectly plays the part of your everyday
high-achieving
teenage girl - with the notable exception that she isn't
afraid to rumble on the mat with the boys.
''She's kind of a feminine girl,'' says Hunter wrestling
coach Craig Stauffer. ''You wouldn't think that she would be the kind that
would
brawl with the boys.''
But she does. Which begs the question: Why would she
want to wrestle?
''I've tried a couple of things, track and stuff, and I
was OK at it, but it wasn't really interesting to me,'' explains Chaston.
''My dad told me
about when he and my uncles were in wrestling and I
thought it would be fun. So I thought I'd give it a try.''
So at the beginning of her sophomore year and with glory
stories of dad's good-old wrestling days in mind, Chaston talked to her
parents
about joining the team. Jeff Chaston, Michelle's father,
says he and his wife, Diane, couldn't believe what they were hearing. And
from their
daughter of all people.
''Yeah, that surprised me. It was out of the blue,''
Jeff recalls with a chuckle.
Imagine the shock on the Chastons' faces when the oldest
of their five children - the same one who was hardly considered a ''tomboy''
growing up and proudly calls herself ''daddy's girl'' -
asked if she could wrestle.
''I had to stop and think for a second there, and I
said, 'I don't know why not.' . . . We discussed long before we had kids
that if our kids
wanted to do something they should be able to go out and
do it.''
If nothing else, Jeff was happy that his daughter, who
wasn't ''really an active girl. She was more of a book learner,'' was going
to
participate in a physical activity. Make that a very
physical activity.
Backed by her parents' support (yes, even from her
mother), Michelle then got the permission from Stauffer to join the
Wolverines' squad.
The coach gave her the same conditions he gives
everybody: Come to practice every day and work hard.
That Michelle is still on the team is proof that she's
kept her end of the deal.
''I've had a couple of girls come out before, but they
usually quit after a couple of days. She's been the only one who's stuck it
out,'' says
Stauffer.
It's been a difficult journey for her, however.
Michelle is at an obvious disadvantage when it comes to
matching the physical strength of boys her own weight. ''They've been doing
stuff
to strengthen themselves all their lives,'' she points
out.
Showing their unconditional support, Michelle's parents
gave her a way to overcome that problem - they bought a weight set for her.
Lifting weight is helping, but one advantage she says
she has over guys is flexibility, which helps her get out of some holds and
locks. That,
combined with her consistent work ethic and an
increasing knowledge of wrestling moves, has helped her make a big
improvement over
the past year.
Competing for the junior varsity squad at the Cowboy
Roundup in Grantsville recently, Michelle's hard work nearly earned her a
victory.
She put a boy on his back and almost executed the pin,
but he escaped and eventually won. Her teary eyes after losses fail to hide
the
disappointment she feels, but that doesn't stop her from
keeping a positive outlook overall.
''I haven't actually won a match, but I haven't been
getting pinned as much lately,'' says Michelle.
''She's there every practice and she works real hard,''
says Stauffer. ''I wish a couple of other wrestlers on our team would work
as hard
as she does.''
But with the supporters come perhaps even more doubters.
Many feel girls should compete in so-called girls' sports, not in physical
and
high-contact sports against stronger boys. That
stereotypic view has even showed up in Michelle's own family, though to a
small degree.
''Most of (our family) is pretty supportive of her,''
says Jeff, ''although one of her grandmas tends to feel that she's still her
little
granddaughter and wants her to be that way. She doesn't
say 'Don't do it,' she just sort of wishes she'd stop on her own.''
Others are more vocal than Michelle's grandma.
''I don't have anybody that actually says anything to
me. They say it to my wife and she lets them know that they'd better think
twice about
saying that,'' says Jeff.
Stauffer gets ''a real good reaction from other
mothers'' about Michelle, but he says that a lot of wrestlers, coaches and
fans alike insist that
girls should wrestle against girls.
Count Olympus wrestler Orion Vail, who competed against
Michelle in a dual meet on Tuesday, in that latter group. In his second
match
of the night, Vail dominated from the get-go and pinned
Michelle toward the end of the first round. Not getting beat by a girl was
his
primary motivation.
''I thought I'd better not lose. That would be
disgraceful for me,'' he says.
Certainly not alone in his way of thinking, Vail says he
respects Michelle for trying, but he doesn't feel girls and boys should
match-up on
the mat.
''I really don't like it. It didn't seem like a real
match, just because she wasn't a guy. It's different,'' he says. ''It's kind
of a gutsy move to try
wrestling for a girl.''
Michelle's biggest concern when she decided to wrestle
was how the guys - especially on her own team - would accept her.
''I was kind of scared how the team would react to me
because I had no idea whether I would have support or not,'' she says. ''I
haven't
had any problems really.''
The main reason for that is the guys on the team treated
her like she was one of the guys, not a girl.
''I feel equal. They beat up on me to get me tough, but
no worse than anybody else,'' says Michelle.
''She works as hard as us,'' points out Hunter wrestler
Nick Fresques, who's ranked No. 1 in 5A in his 140-pound division. ''She
gets in
there and wrestles with us and does everything we do.
It's kind of her own deal and I have no problem with it.''
But when she first showed up to practice the feeling was
much different.
''At first, we were all kind of like 'Wow!' '' says
Fresques. ''But now she's convinced us that she can do it. She's improved.''
And boys around the state had better get used to a
Chaston girl trying to put them in a half-Nelson. Michelle's younger sister,
13-year-old
TraeLynn, is on the wrestling team at Jefferson Junior
High.
But that's natural, really. She's just following the
footsteps of her older sibling and role model, the wrestler who happens to
play the violin .
. . and is a girl.
